The Ejection SiteRemembering the Pioneers
This century has seen advancements in engineering that exceed the achievements
of the past several centuries. Driving these advances have been extraordinary men
who labored beyond the cutting edge, desperately trying to gain ground before
it could catch up to them. Starting with the Wright Brothers, who had studied the
greatest scientific minds before them and decided that they had to extend the
science of aeronautics beyond where it had gone before, and continuing as far into
the future as they could manage.

In Aviation and Aerospace there have been hundreds of men and women who have
advanced the state of the art, and made flying safer for both pilots and their
passengers. Some have made small advances that made uncomfortable things more
palatable, others have brought about changes that have saved many lives. One of these
men was Brigadier General Donald D. Flickinger, Ret. He was a Stanford trained
doctor who while with the Army Air Corp during World War II would parajump to the site
of air crashes in the area of the Burma-China Hump to tend the
injured and help them to safety.

Later on in his career he assisted in the development of high altitude bailout
aeromedical research. He was instrumental in developing ejection equipment
that included oxygen bottles to prevent crewmen from blacking out in
the thin upper atmosphere, a situation that would often prove fatal. A later
development to his credit was in the barometric release mechanisms for
parachutes that would ensure the chute did not deploy until it had
reached a safe altitude.

Dr. Flickinger did research that led to the infamous Lovelace Clinic where
the Mercury Astronauts went through the rigorous and incomprehensible (to us today)
testing depicted in Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff". During the Mercury program
Dr. Flickinger was the Assistant for Bioastronautics, ARDC Andrews Air Force Base. His
expertise was developed over a long career and he retired in 1961. It is a solemn
task to write this as it is both a tribute, and an obituary. Dr. Flickinger passed
away on Feb. 23, 1997.

This tribute is also to all the other people who have been involved in the
progression of Aeronautics over this century. All of them deserve our respect,
from the designers and inventors who put ink to paper to 'Rosie the Riveter'
and all the other laborers who assembled the myriad air and space craft, to
the maintenance personnel who repair and pamper the systems to the men and women
who strap the conglomeration of parts on and soar into the sky.

"Now, as the age of space exploration dawns, we see the need for the same
state of progression of aerospace medicine, space biomedicine, or whatever this
new area might be called. It needs to have its share of support, for the military
or civilian or any other type of organizational structure; I am talking about
the future of our country. The time has come when we must all realize, those of
us who have been in aviation medicine and those who are now joining its ranks,
that we have a tremendous job ahead of us. Let's all join hands, exhibit good old
American courage, and get on with the job."
Dr. Donald D. Flickinger
Project Mercury: Biomedical Aspects
Psychophysiological Aspects of Space Flight, 1961

Others who have passed on recently include Gino P. Santi, who at the Wright Air Development Center (WADC), ran the early USAF ejection seat testing programs.